‘Despicable Me’ tramples ‘Lone Ranger’ at theaters LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Lone Ranger” seems to be riding into the sunset on its debut weekend. The Disney Western starring Armie Hammer as the titular character and Johnny Depp as Tonto was outpaced 3 to 1 by Universal’s “Despicable Me 2,” which also opened Wednesday. The animated sequel collected $59.9 million in ticket sales so far, while “The Lone Ranger” earned a paltry $19.5 million. While Disney is likely to recover based on its other str...

Obama’s toughest sell on Guantanamo: Senate Dems WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s hardest sell in his renewed push to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may be members of his own party — moderate Senate Democrats facing tough re-election bids next year in the strongly Republican South. Obama has stepped up the pressure to shutter the naval facility, driven in part by his revised counterterrorism strategy and the 4-month-old stain of the government force-feedin...

Furloughs begin for Defense Department civilians WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 650,000 civilian Defense Department workers will begin taking the first of their 11 unpaid days off next week, but the cut in salary they will see in the three months may pale compared to what officials worry could be larger scale layoffs next year. Roughly 85 percent of the department’s nearly 900,000 civilians around the world will be furloughed, according to the latest statistics provided by the Pentagon. But whi...

Experts: Expect bigger, fiercer wildfires in West LOS ANGELES (AP) — There’s a dangerous but basic equation behind the killer Yarnell Hill wildfire and other blazes raging across the West this summer: More heat, more drought, more fuel and more people in the way are adding up to increasingly ferocious fires. Scientists say a hotter planet will only increase the risk. More than two dozen wildland fires are burning from Alaska to New Mexico, fueled by triple-digit temperatures and arid conditio...

5 new features that could be on your next car DETROIT (AP) — Cameras that check around the car for pedestrians. Radar that stops you from drifting out of your lane. An engine able to turn off automatically at traffic lights to conserve fuel. Technology that saves lives — and fuel — is getting better and cheaper. That means it’s no longer confined to luxury brands like Mercedes and Volvo. It’s showing up in mainstream vehicles like the Nissan Rogue and Ford Fusion. “What we see today as sl...

Health insurers fear young people will opt out MIAMI (AP) — Dan Lopez rarely gets sick and hasn’t been to a doctor in 10 years, so buying health insurance feels like a waste of money. Even after the federal health overhaul takes full effect next year, the 24-year-old said he will probably decide to pay the $100 penalty for those who skirt the law’s requirement that all Americans purchase coverage. “I don’t feel I should pay for something I don’t use,” said the Milwaukee resident, who makes...

SF Bay Area commuter rail service resumes OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Commuter rail service resumed Friday in the San Francisco Bay Area after unions called off a strike and agreed to extend a labor contract for a month while bargaining continues. Thirty-five trains were put back in service in time for an expected light evening commute, the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency said. Frances DeLoach of Oakland was among the dozens of commuters who lined up at the West Oakland station for the first...

Same-sex ruling has employers tweaking benefits WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on same-sex marriage has private employers around the country scrambling to make sure their employee benefit plans comply with the law. The impact of the decision striking down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is clear in the 13 states and the District of Columbia where gay marriage is currently legal or soon will be: Same-sex married couples must be treated the same as other spo...

5-year-old drowns in swimming pool VAN BUREN (AP) — Authorities said a 5-year-old Fayetteville girl drowned in a swimming pool in western Arkansas. The Southwest Times Record reported the girl drowned in a pool in Van Buren on Wednesday. Crawford County Sheriff Ron Brown said the girl was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead after her 17-year-old brother and his 16-year-old girlfriend found her lifeless in a pool and called 911. Brown said the teens were watching the 5...

US touts democracy as Egyptian military takes over WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is turning to top officials to tout democracy, political transparency and peaceful protest for Egypt, a message that took on a hollow tone as the Egyptian military installed a new leader for the country and began rounding up its ousted president and his supporters. Tens of thousands of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi marched in Cairo on Friday, and gunfire and stone-throwing marked clash...

Here, only goats can prevent airport fires Last month, officials at San Francisco International Airport hired a herd of part-time employees to toil on the west side of the property and engage in an unusual — but environmentally friendly — form of fire prevention. Anyone looking down from a plane departing the airport may have wondered, What’s with the goats? For two weeks in June, Mr. Fuzzy, Cookie, Mable, Alice and nearly 400 other goats chomped on the brush in a remote corner of the ...

US officials approach tumult in Egypt with caution WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and his national security team tread delicately Thursday in the aftermath of the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, urging the restive nation to quickly return authority to a democratically elected civilian government and avoid violence. The administration still declined to take sides in the volatile developments as Egypt’s military installed an interim government leader. Ahead of Washington’s...

Gasoline prices begin summer slide NEW YORK (AP) — Gasoline prices are on a summer slide, giving U.S. drivers a break as they set out for the beach and other vacation spots for the Fourth of July. The national average for a gallon has fallen for 21 days straight and is now below $3.50 for the first time since February. The reason: Oil prices have been relatively stable, and refineries are turning out more gasoline after completing springtime maintenance. The drop may be interru...

GOP has tough choices on Voting Rights Act ATLANTA (AP) — When the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights act last week, it handed Republicans tough questions with no easy answers over how, and where, to attract voters even GOP leaders say the party needs to stay nationally competitive. The decision caught Republicans between newfound state autonomy that conservatives covet and the law’s popularity among minority, young and poor voters who tend to align with Democrats. It’s those ...

Band of Brothers: 3 Texas siblings at West Point WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — There are brothers in arms and bands of brothers, and now there are Noah, Sumner and Cole Ogrydziak, three Texas brothers who began their cadet training together at West Point this week. For one of the few times in its long history, the U.S. Military Academy accepted three siblings into the same class. Twins Sumner and Cole, who just turned 18, and their 19-year-old brother, Noah, of Nederland in southeast Texas, have e...

What now? Q&A about latest snag in health care law WASHINGTON (AP) — Nothing’s ever easy with President Barack Obama’s health care law. The latest hitch gives employers an additional year before they must offer medical coverage to their workers or pay a fine. What does the delay mean for workers? And struggling businesses? And is it a significant setback for a law already beset by court challenges, repeal votes and a rush of deadlines for making health insurance available to nearly all America...

Letters from father of US Navy surface in SC CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — When John Paul Jones famously said “I have not yet begun to fight,” he certainly had begun to write as evidenced by letters from the American naval hero that recently surfaced at the Charleston Library Society. The library has 11 letters totaling 13 pages by the famous Revolutionary War captain many consider the father of the United States Navy. The letters were written in 1777, two years before Jones is credited with m...

Solar Plane: Making clean tech sexy, adventurous WASHINGTON (AP) — In noisy, energetic New York City, the pilots of a spindly plane that looks more toy than jet hope to grab attention in a surprising way: By being silent and consuming little energy. This revolutionary solar-powered plane is about to end a slow and symbolic journey across America by quietly buzzing the Statue of Liberty and landing in a city whose buildings often obscure the power-giving sun. The plane’s top speed of 45 mph i...

Vast war letter collection shows sacrifice ORANGE, Calif. (AP) — U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Horace Evers was setting up a command post in Munich with other Allied soldiers in the final days of World War II when he stumbled across sheets of Adolf Hitler’s personal stationery in the dictator’s abandoned apartment. Evers, just barely 26, crossed out Hitler’s name below an embossed swastika, scrawled his own name — “S/Sgt. Evers” — and then sat down to write home about the stacks of hollow-eyed ...

2nd re-enactment of Battle of Gettysburg begins GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Battle of Gettysburg is underway for the second time in a week and tourists are converging in droves even if the outcome of the Civil War’s pivotal encounter has been known for 150 years. Soldiers back in 1863 never experienced conditions like the ones re-enactors had Thursday. Big city-like traffic snarled two-lane rural roads. Green grandstands used at the U.S. Open golf tournament last month outside Philadelphia l...